Posted on 07/29/2007 4:42:48 AM PDT by microgood
Mark O'Hara clutches his only belongings, his legal papers, as he uses a borrowed cell phone Wednesday in an attempt to get a ride home to Dunedin from the Orient Road Jail in Tampa. [Ken Helle | Times] ADVERTISEMENT
Breaking News Video
TAMPA - Mark O'Hara left jail without handcuffs Wednesday, two years after he went to prison and one week since an appeals court ordered him a new trial.
He was serving a 25-year sentence for having 58 Vicodin pills in his bread truck. Jurors weren't told that it is legal to possess the drug with a prescription, which he had.
The Hillsborough State Attorney's Office has not decided whether it will seek a retrial in the Dunedin man's drug trafficking case.
O'Hara, 45, said he made the 168-mile trip back from a Dixie County prison without knowing exactly why. His attorneys had alerted him of their successful appeal but cautioned that it wouldn't become final for 30 days.
Still, he figured something positive was afoot.
"They been treating me like a human," he said of authorities.
Events leading up to his release also seem to point in his favor.
Col. David Parrish, who runs the county's jails, said State Attorney Mark Ober called him late Monday afternoon with an urgent request. He wanted O'Hara brought back to Hillsborough from the Cross City Correctional Institution as soon as possible.
Prison transfers usually take a week. O'Hara's took a day.
On Wednesday morning, he appeared before Circuit Judge Ronald Ficarrotta, the same jurist who heard his trial and sentenced him to the mandatory 25 years in prison on the trafficking charge.
The hearing was scheduled so quickly that O'Hara's attorneys didn't even know about it.
Prosecutor Darrell Dirks acknowledged that the state erred in leaving out a jury instruction regarding prescriptions. He suggested O'Hara be returned to the status he had before his August 2005 trial.
O'Hara piped up, saying he had been released from jail on his own recognizance after his arrest.
Court records confirmed it. Dirks didn't object, and the judge ordered O'Hara's release.
He got to ride back to jail in a van without other inmates, he said.
That isn't typical treatment for an inmate, but neither was the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruling about his case.
Claims called 'absurd'
The opinion faulted prosecutors' claims that Florida statutes do not allow a "prescription defense" in drug trafficking cases.
Using words like "absurd" and "ridiculous," three appellate judges said the state's position would make patients with valid prescriptions criminals as soon as they left the drugstore.
Tampa airport police arrested O'Hara in August 2004 after they found the hydrocodone and a small amount of marijuana in his illegally parked and unattended bread truck.
He refused plea agreements from prosecutors before trial, one for three years in prison. Instead, jurors heard from two doctors who said they had been treating O'Hara since the early 1990s for pain related to gout and auto accident injuries.
Prosecutors did not contend that O'Hara, who went to prison in the 1980s for cocaine trafficking, sold any of the 80 Vicodin pills he had been prescribed in the eight months before his arrest. Under the law, simply possessing the quantity of pills he had constitutes trafficking.
On Wednesday, members of the State Attorney's Office continued to review the case.
"The immediate concern was to get him back and get him out of jail while they look at the case law," said Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi.
No clothes, no money
At 1:25 p.m., O'Hara walked out the front door at the Orient Road Jail, dazed and squinting in the sunlight.
He wore a sky blue paper shirt and pants outfit, provided by the jail to inmates who don't have street clothes. He called it a "clown suit." He said he threw away his personal belongings on his way out of prison.
Salt and pepper stubble blanketed his chin. He left his razor at prison, too. A guard told him he would be back for it.
"No, I won't," O'Hara recalled saying.
He had only a rolled-up stack of legal papers. No money, no ride home.
As he tried to figure out what to do next, Parrish walked up from the parking lot. The jail administrator recognized O'Hara instantly.
"I didn't know about this," Parrish said, pointing to the awkward paper outfit. "I'm sorry. You've had enough problems."
Getting home to Pinellas County was the next one. Parrish handed him a $20 bill, then disappeared inside to call a cab.
"You can't beat that," O'Hara said, smiling.
His head felt cloudy, he said. He wasn't sure what to think of his new freedom or whether it would last.
He sold two condos, his car and his bread business to pay for the appeal. But the state took the proceeds, according to family friend Eric Mastro, to pay toward the $500,000 fine that came with his conviction.
Parrish walked back out of the jail. The cab would arrive in five minutes, he said.
When O'Hara told him how far he had to go, Parrish handed him another $40 from his wallet.
What a horrible event for this fellow to go through losing everything because of a legal mistake made by the courts.
Why can’t he file a claim for compensation to what he lost?
Seems like another case of a procesutor wanting to make a name for himself at the expense of sum dumb shmoe.
Let’s see.... Fitzpatrick, Nifong, Sutton, and this.
Justice?
Yeah....right.
Partly that, plus a lot of arrogance. Prosecutors often throw the book at someone who won’t “play the game” of plea bargains.
There was an appeal about this in federal court, saying that offering a lesser charge in return for testimony was equivalent to bribery. But it didn’t go far. In my mind, it was right on the money.
....Florida statutes do not allow a "prescription defense" in drug trafficking cases .... the state's position would make patients with valid prescriptions criminals as soon as they left the drugstore.
Was the Florida Legislature high on drugs when they wrote this ijit law?!?!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
END THE WAR ON DRUGS ALREADY !!
You want justice? Go to a whorehouse. You’ll get ****** in a courthouse!
LMAO, and you are dead right of course.
The poor slob in this case was a perfect victim - former criminal record, small amount of marijuana, disposable/accessible assets...
That sucks, if he sues,the taxpayers pay for it.He is justified to sue imo,I just wish the guy could sue the prosecutor(POS)
Your presence is requested on this thread, so you can shill for the jackboot thugs who locked this guy up and the policies that led to this insane situation.
Both were prescribing Vicodin, and neither knew about the other. This is known as "doctor shopping".
In 1981 and 1982, O'Hara served eight months of a one-year prison sentence for possession of hallucinogenic drugs. In 1986 through 1988, he served two years of a five-year prison sentence for trafficking in cocaine and dissuading a witness.
This guy isn't some innocent schmuck "caught up" in the system. He's a drug dealer.
What if he was caught with 580 Vicodin pills instead of 58 -- but he was being treated and had a prescription? Should the jury be told that that it's legal to possess Vicodin if you have "a prescription"?
So it's really a question of what constitutes "too many" pills. You or I possessing 58 pills -- no problem. But this clown was driving around with pills in an unlabeled bottle and had a history of drug dealing, so the prosecutor took advantage of a poorly written law and went after him.
The same thing Rush was doing. Rush should be serving 25 year minimum.
What if he...
Always a fun game to play for those with no bisis in fact.
this clown was driving around with pills in an unlabeled bottle and had a history of drug
Like Rush traveling by plane with Viagra in an unregistered bottle, with a history of drug abuse, should be facing the same mandatory minimum of 25 years right?
Same state, same charges, different perspective. Was O'Hare railroaded or was Rush alowed to skate or both?
Huh? Not uncommon? Happens all the time? Puh-leeze!
"so your statement must assume "once a drug dealer, always a drug dealer."
When a prior drug dealer is found with 58 Vicodin pills in an unmarked bottle in a van, my antennae twitch.
"And now he is going to get his head handed to him in civil court"
The prosecutor hasn't yet decided if he's going to retry the case. Not a real good time for Mr. O'Hara to be talking about suing the prosecutor.
"since he did 2 years in prison for something he did not do"
Pfffft! I look at it as two years for something he DID do but wasn't caught doing.
Typically, one doesn’t even need to file criminal charges in order to seize assets, and keep them. Asset seizure is a civil matter and requires a preponderance of evidence rather than beyond a reasonable doubt as is required for a criminal coviction.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.